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tom1337 10 hours ago

so Apple then? They require you to pay the $99 yearly fee to sideload for more than 7 days

GeekyBear 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Apple was clear that they were offering the safety of a walled garden from the start.

Apple didn't lie about supporting a user's freedom to run anything they like, only to execute a rug pull after they successfully drove the other open options out of the marketplace.

TheDong 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Apple didn't lie about supporting a user's freedom to run anything they like, only to execute a rug pull after they successfully drove the other open options out of the marketplace.

They did execute a rugpull, and they aren't offering safety anymore.

The rug pull is ads in the app store. If I go to the app store now and search for my bank's name, the first result is a different bank. If I search for 'anki', the first 3 results are spam ad-ware tracking-cookie trash.

If I search "password store" I get 4 results before the "password store" app. I had a family member try to install one of the google-docs suite of apps, and the first result was some spamware that opened a full-screen ad, which on click resulted in a phishing site.

My family can't safely use the app store anymore because they click the first result, and the first result for most searches is now adware infested crap because of apple's "sponsored results".

What's the point of charging huge overhead on the hardware, and then an astounding 30% tax, and also a $100/year developer fee, if you then double-dip and screw over the users who want your app by selling user's clicks to the highest bidder?

still_grokking 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Don't forget that Apple is spying on their users even more then Google does (which is gross in its own). Apple controls much more user data then Google does.

At the same time Apple keeps telling their users some fairy-tales about "privacy".

No, Apple isn't honest. Definitely not.

alextingle 18 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

No. Apple's phones started out with only web apps. They only add the walled garden later.

AnthonyMouse 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Apple was clear that they were offering the safety of a walled garden from the start.

This is a red herring. Is Google a hypocrite for lying about it first? Sure. But suppose Android dies and gets replaced by something that never claimed to be open. Or gets replaced by nothing so there is only iOS. Is that fine then?

Of course not, because the problem is the lack of alternatives, and having your choice glued to an entire ecosystem full of other choices so that everything is all or nothing and the choices you would make the other way are coerced by them all being tied together into something with a network effect.

supern0va 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

If Google actually takes away the ability to run unsigned code, my next phone will be an iPhone. And I rarely even run unsigned code.

Honestly, it might finally result in me fully exiting the Google ecosystem.

matheusmoreira 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> If Google actually takes away the ability to run unsigned code, my next phone will be an iPhone. And I rarely even run unsigned code.

Same here. If I must be in a walled garden, then I will choose the better kept garden and it sure as hell isn't one of Google's crappy platforms.

The only reason to put up with the shittiness of Android is freedom. The same freedom they keep eroding with their constant, never ending attempts to force remote attestation and sideloading limits.

GrapheneOS is the last hope for Android as far as I'm concerned. Hopefully Google won't find ways to screw that up.

> it might finally result in me fully exiting the Google ecosystem

Don't wait for them to push you away. Start exiting now. Setting up mail on my own domain and distancing myself from gmail is one of the best things I've ever done. Highly recommended.

b112 5 hours ago | parent [-]

I've noticed with GrapheneOS, that more recent builds are exhibiting weird issues. This isn't their fault, it's upstream ASOP issues. For example, just in the last few weeks:

* The date has now gone missing from my lockscreen, only showing the time.

* I can no longer see signal strength on my phone for mobile, if wiki is off. I turn wifi on, and now I can. I use a larger font, but it used to be just fine.

There are all sorts of little changes like this I've noticed recently.

It makes me wonder if Google is slowly mangling default ASOP so projects like GrapheneOS will have a crappier daily build experience.

And GrapheneOS doesn't have time to manage features changes like this, they focus on their key security improvements and fixes. If Google is doing this on purpose, it has real potential to seriously degrade ASOP as usable without lots of fixes and changes.

They already rug-pulled security updates or whatever it was a few months back.

And it really seems like the sort of sneaky, underhanded way Google would handle things.

garciansmith 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Odd, I don't have those issues (date is on the lock screen, network signal strength when wifi is off is there). Played around with font settings but that changed nothing. Up to date stable version of Graphene on an 8a. Are these beta versions? Or maybe it's phone dependent.

b112 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Do you have 'Receive security preview updates' on?

Google stopped publishing any info about security updates until (I think) quarterlies come out. GrapheneOS had to sign some sort of non-disclosure for them, in order to roll them into updates.

If you don't have that on, then you're not fully up to date with security updates. This could be the difference.

still_grokking an hour ago | parent [-]

> GrapheneOS had to sign some sort of non-disclosure for them, in order to roll them into updates.

So doesn't this mean GrapheneOS is effectively controlled by Google now?

Also, how is keeping anything secret under NDA possible at all if you want to know what's in a security update and be actually able to build that update yourself from source?

b112 an hour ago | parent [-]

Controlled? No. It's about security updates being patched before disclosure.

That said. it is indeed annoying, and there was a lot of uproar when it happened.

For the nuance of it, I'd suggest GrapheneOS docs, you'll get more accurate info.

https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/27068-grapheneos-security-p...

state_less 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Buy a cheap unlocked smartphone and run GrapheneOS[0]. I want my smartphone to be like my linux computers where I run them for as long as the hardware works and is still relevant. My iPhone 12 is getting close to its end of life support, yet it is still working well. We should expect better from trillion dollar companies. So I'm not supporting them with dollars wherever I can afford not to. That and I think it's more enjoyable to run something off the beaten path. I like to explore the space a little.

I swapped out my MBP for an Asus Pro Art running linux last year and that's been working out pretty well. Hopefully my cheap motorola phone will be supported by GrapheneOS soon and that will work out too.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47241551

drnick1 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Buy a cheap unlocked smartphone and run GrapheneOS

Note that this needs to be a Pixel at the moment.

ysnp 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

GrapheneOS will support future Morotola phones that meet a subset of their requirements, rather than existing phones. Less likely to be budget lines for now.

still_grokking 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Just to switch to an even more aggressively monitored and tightly controlled walled garden?

People sometimes act as if the one would be an viable alternative to the other. Even both are effectively the exact same shit for the exact same reasons.

How about we move instead to open systems?

ipaddr 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

One walled garden to a bigger walled garden.

intrasight 5 hours ago | parent [-]

That is the human condition - up to the scale of the planet, which is the ultimate walled garden at the moment.

rezonant 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Which increases the limit to whatever time is left on your current payment period. After which the app will stop working and need to be reinstalled by an authenticated developer who has a current Apple Developer Subscription.

EDIT: Edited the above which previously said 90 days incorrectly. Not sure where my brain pulled that from but I posted the correct details here prior: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45743615

Notably if you install a month before your subscription expires you need to reinstall the app in 1 month.

tom1337 10 hours ago | parent [-]

> Which increases the limit to 90 days

It increases to 365 days, no? At least thats the longest I can sign my app and I use a personal but paid Apple Developer Account

rezonant 9 hours ago | parent [-]

Oops yes you're correct. Edited post and put a note about the correction and a link to my previous post describing the correct details.

But it's only 365 days if you install the app on day 1 of your $99 subscription period.